31 Plays in 31 Days 2025, #2 - “Speak”

[breakinglight11]

Okay, while yesterday I said I really don’t know much about the upcoming Mrs. Hawking part 9, actually there is one thing I really know I want to do. I had this idea that Mrs. Hawking needs to be approached by people who engage with social issues as systemic issues and encourage her to do the same.

I think this would be interesting for several reasons. One, we’re working in the superhero genre, and an unfortunate limitation of that genre that it is not well-equipped to discuss the effects of systems. Superhero stories come from a fantasy of individual agency— what, if you had the power, WOULD YOU DO? I really hate when writers try to make superheroes symbols or stand ins for systems— like fascism or libertarianism or communism or whatever —since a genre all about individuals doing stuff really can’t effectively represent something so complex. But because of that, superhero stories tend to hand-wave overarching issues baked into the fabric of society and the need for collective, ongoing action to solve them, instead treating problems as matters of individual choices and individual actions, of single heroes standing up to make a difference.

I would like do a little bit of a better job addressing that complexity in our story. So I thought it would be interesting to have someone, basically, challenge Mrs. Hawking to engage more with the truths of systemic problems and collective solutions. All her life, she’s been such a lone wolf— partially because of her nature and her own arrogance in her judgment and abilities, but also from cynicism about the willingness of the rest of the world to change. Characters need to be continually challenged, and a big one for our hero is to learn to work with others to achieve bigger things. So I think it would make a great challenge for her to have to expand her thinking in this way.


Photo by Kathy Lucie Bedard

Day #2 - “Speak”
From Mrs Hawking part 9
By Phoebe Roberts

London, 1893

VICTORIA HAWKING, lady’s champion of London, early fifties
ISABELLA SAVILLE, a women and children’s rights activist, early forties
~~~

                  (As MRS. HAWKING proceeds down the street, she observes a woman, MRS. SAVILLE, watching her.)

MRS. HAWKING: May I help you, madam?

MRS. SAVILLE: I believe you can. If you are in fact whom I think you are. Do I have the honor of addressing Mrs. Victoria Hawking?

MRS. HAWKING: May I ask who you are?

MRS. SAVILLE: Mrs. Saville— Isabella Saville. Forgive my bold approach, but I’ve been hoping to speak with you for some time now. I’m in great need of your help.

MRS. HAWKING: I see. I take it you know my work?

MRS. SAVILLE: Oh, indeed, madam. And I must say, it is an honor to finally meet you. You are a legend, Mrs. Hawking, and that is why I am certain you are the one to help me.

MRS. HAWKING: I do what I can, madam. If you will just make an appointment, I can arrange for us to speak with my associates as well. You may trust them to handle your case with capability and discretion—

MRS. SAVILLE: I am sure. But I must be clear, madam, that it is your help in particular I seek.

MRS. HAWKING: I am afraid that in recent years I require support from younger eyes and stronger backs. But I assure you, all of us shall give your case our fullest attention—

MRS. SAVILLE: Forgive me, Mrs. Hawking, I think you’ve misunderstood. I am not in need of you to act. In fact, I am in need of you to speak.

                  (Pause.)

MRS. HAWKING: I beg your pardon?

MRS. SAVILLE: You see, madam, I represent an organization with some very particular interests. We pose formal challenges to matters of law that oppress those with fewer advantages in society— women, children, the foreign, the impoverished. Perhaps you have heard of our demonstrations, or our petitions to members of Parliament.

MRS. HAWKING: You are… activists, then?

MRS. SAVILLE: Indeed. And our work has afforded us a singular opportunity— you have heard of the Blind and Deaf Children Act?

MRS. HAWKING: The proposal for the government to provide for the education of disabled youth? I thought it lacked the votes to pass through.

MRS. SAVILLE: Precisely. However, through our labor, we have won a chance to speak before the lawmakers in Parliament. We can speak in favor of the law, and convince those who do not see its value. That brings me to you, madam— we believe you are the right person to speak.

MRS. HAWKING: Why ever would you come to me?

MRS. SAVILLE: Because we need a champion. Are you surprised I thought of you?

MRS. HAWKING: I am— not political.

MRS. SAVILLE: Of course you are. Forgive me, Mrs. Hawking, but anyone with opinions on the world around them is political. The only question is whether they take action on them. And as I understand it, few have taken more decisive action than you.

MRS. HAWKING: And I have taken that action because no one would listen. No one ever has. And why should they listen now? To any woman?

MRS. SAVILLE: It is a hard mountain to climb, I know. But you would not be alone. We can prepare you with the points, even the words if you require. But I believe you are the voice we need. Because of everything you’ve done, and everything you are.

MRS. HAWKING: Nothing I have ever accomplished has been done by talking.

MRS. SAVILLE: You misunderstand, madam. We come to you because you are the Nighthawk. But they will heed you because your father was the lieutenant territorial governor of Singapore. Because your husband was the war hero cavalry colonel.

MRS. HAWKING: Those are… the least of who I am.

MRS. SAVILLE: I do understand, Mrs. Hawking, but… not to the rest of the world. To them, we are still who our husbands and fathers are. But if we have any hope to change that, we must use what advantages we have. And yours, madam, are considerable. When the Nighthawk speaks, they will listen— men will listen. Even if it is Mrs. Colonel Hawking who will be heard.

                  (She hands MRS. HAWKING her calling card.)

MRS. SAVILLE: My card, madam. Please, take some time to consider it. We’ll speak again soon.  

                  (MRS. SAVILLE exits.)

Comments

[jducoeur]

Oh, I quite like this one -- it poses quite the internal conflict for her, but presents her with a way to have a new form of agency. (At the cost of no small amount of pride.)

Separately:

I really hate when writers try to make superheroes symbols or stand ins for systems— like fascism or libertarianism or communism or whatever —since a genre all about individuals doing stuff really can’t effectively represent something so complex.

You've read Strong Female Protagonist, right? If not, I highly recommend it: it wrestles with this topic more directly than perhaps any other comic I've encountered. (And is generally on my Best Comics of All Time shelf.)